‘Queer’ Review: Surrealism Drowned In Melancholy

Queer is Luca Guadagnino’s most sensual film yet, with a powerful and silent performance from Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig like you have never seen him before. Read more to find our full Queer review.

This Queer review was made possible thanks to an early screening at the BFI London Film Festival.

Set in 1940s Mexico City, the film follows an outcast American expat (Daniel Craig) who becomes infatuated with a younger man (Drew Starkey). Daniel Craig is strikingly good as William Lee, a lonely writer searching for something more as he strolls around the streets of Mexico City. After a number of hookups and failed connections, Lee comes across Eugene Allerton, played by Drew Starkey. The two immediately bond to each other and begin seeing each other more but there is one question lingering over all of their meetings – is Allerton even queer?

Starkey gives a powerful underplayed performance as Allerton and keeps his cards close to his chest. Whilst Lee is flamboyant and overexaggerates every movement to convince the people of the city that he is doing well and fully understands himself, Allerton is the opposite and is always positioned in a corner or away from the light, all of his actions are concealed and his privacy is what maintains the mystery of the film. Queer, however, is not a film about romance, it is about desire. Lee is very unhappy with his life and wants more of everything – he craves a strong relationship with a man and also wants a better relationship with himself and his body, he hopes to become more in tune with himself and unlock the secrets of the body and to transcend beyond his physical self.

Craig has upped his game and gives a career-best performance, his lonely escapades are entrancing and his vulnerability is the root of the film’s emotional core. This is perfectly complimented by the strong-willed and closed-off Eugene Allerton. Drew Starkey also is the best he has ever been and is a perfect counter to Craig’s William Lee – his nonchalant nature enhances Lee’s anxieties and worries which leads to a spiral that brings the movie its most emotional moments. Whilst Allerton may be hiding in the dark in many ways and unsuspecting, Lee is very overt in his feelings and it is this assailable, defenceless atmosphere that follows him that crafts the perfect showcase for Daniel Craig, who gets to showcase a range of emotions and feelings that he has never shown before – whilst action movies are physically demanding, this requires him to get in touch with a more intimate side of himself and open up in multiple ways, which makes this role a perfect reflection of his true abilities and portrays him in a way he has never been seen before – Craig perfectly fits into and compliment’s Luca’s gaze.

The aroma of psychedelic-like inspiration is present throughout the whole film. Whilst it becomes intrinsic to the plot in the third act of the film, it is still very much prevalent in the rest of the movie – specifically in the backgrounds of certain scenes. Every outdoor scene has either a painted background or a digital one which helps to reinforce the questioning nature of the narrative. Whilst Lee is questioning his life and trying to decipher between what is reality and what isn’t, we also are watching a story that appears to take place within some sort of fabricated reality. Guadagnino has perfectly captured the essence of Burroughs (the writer of the book Queer is based on), his books were not full of emotion or fuelled by romance but instead focused on experimentation and clouded in a dark aroma. Burroughs himself was a heavy drug user and channelled this into his books, though Queer was one of his more grounded works as it was based on his own life and thus didn’t delve too much into realms of unreality. Despite this, Guadagnino definitely brings this essence to the movie and many scenes even have you questioning what is real; the movie includes a ghostly visual effect that helps to capture the sense of longing and reinforce this trippy and ‘unrealistic’ nature. 

Arguably the most striking aspect of the film is its language. It does not rely heavily on dialogue, it is of course used very frequently but the writing does not feel like the most important thing in any scene. This is because the words are insignificant. In Queer, mood and language are communicated using the body. Whether this be through transcendent experiences, being under the influence or sex, Guadagnino has made a film in which the characters are not built up in a conventional emotional way, but physically. As an audience, we grow closer to the characters not by learning about their histories or even by evolution in their dialogue but instead by their body language and closeness of their bodies. As the movie goes on, Lee and Allerton sit closer and closer together at tables – though their banter seemingly hasn’t changed, this evolution is shown through positioning, specifically of their bodies. The strongest way this is done is through sex and Queer may have the most on-screen gay sex in any modern movie which shows outright the strong messaging Guadagnino wants at the forefront of the picture.

Without getting into spoilers, there are multiple scenes where substances and exterior forces mean that reality is skewed which leads to some incredibly psychedelic and trippy scenes. Even with these, the limits of the human body are being highlighted and whilst on highs, characters get even closer and bodies touch – it is clear that the movement of bodies and body language is at the forefront of Queer and it is the language of the movie. If the focus on the body isn’t clear yet, there is a character in the movie who wants to achieve telepathy – the movie is all about bodies and our connection to them. Whilst Luca does have an eye for sexual tension and knows how to frame an actor in an attractive way, he has never done it like he has in Queer. It is for this reason that Queer is Guadagnino’s most sensual film yet.

However, Queer feels rough around the edges. Whilst all of these things are present in the movie and are mostly realised to a good extent, it all comes together in quite a messy way. The second half of the movie is a big jump away from the first half and it almost feels as if they are two different movies. There is no natural progression to the places that the second half takes it and it goes from 0 to 100 with weirdness very quickly. This is likely due to the fact that a lot of the movie had to be cut. The original 300-minute cut is said to have featured more scenes of Lee going to bars and likely expanded on every detail a bit more. With the final cut being 137 minutes, that is over an hour of cut scenes and you can definitely feel that something is missing in the movie.

Every scene feels as if it is cut off right before it fulfils its purpose and it is only because of people’s trust in Guadagnino that you stick with it. This movie acts a lot better as an artistic showcase – showing off the grand visuals and dreamlike backdrops as well as the performance of the body. Jason Schwartzman and Lesley Manville give great supporting performances, though again do not have much to do as the film stays away from being a character study and instead being about emotion. Schwartzman brings the comedy and Manville brings mystery, fear and horror – each character brings a different emotion to the ensemble and thus different responses are elicited depending on who is on screen. However, this approach doesn’t always work and in this movie, it does lead to a disconnect. 

Whilst Guadagnino’s intention is understood, it leaves you desiring more and wanting to connect more to the characters and understand them better. It is hard to fully entrap yourself into a movie when motivations are unclear and you cannot connect to the characters outside of the lead. When Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey are not talking, you are just waiting for the film to return back to them because everything outside of their relationship and journey is weak and very underdeveloped. Queer is an experience and definitely worth checking out in cinemas, though it is going to be very divisive and challenge audience’s concepts on the nature of relationships and relationships within film. 

The movie will receive a limited release on November 27th in the US by A24 and will be released on December 13th in the UK and other international markets by Mubi.

Queer is directed by Luca Guadagnino and stars Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville, Henry Zaga and Omar Apollo. Luca Guadagnino, Marco Morabito and Zachary Fox serve as producers.

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